Musculoskeletal medicine: the challenge of the Bone and Joint Decade

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Abstract
The Bone and Joint Decade (2000–2010) provides a catalyst for the further development of musculoskeletal medicine. The Bone and Joint Decade (BJD) provides an opportunity to bring together industry, governments, health professionals and patients to further research education and services in musculoskeletal diseases.The challenges for musculoskeletal medicine include an ageing population suffering increasingly from chronic multisystem disease, new technologies including pharmaceuticals, biomaterials and prostheses which come at increasing cost, and a health system which is increasingly required to focus on cost‐effectiveness, patient outcomes and patient involvement.All those involved in providing services in the area of musculoskeletal medicine have an opportunity to work together and create new systems of healthcare delivery. This is likely to involve a blurring of the barriers between the specialties and the health professions themselves to create a more sustainable, outcomes‐orientated health delivery system. It may lead to task substitution within the musculoskeletal health professionals, the emergence of new forms of ‘generic’ musculoskeletal health professionals and significant changes in the way we delivery education and research. The new ‘musculoskeletal medicine’ will depend much more on inter‐professional training, multidisciplinary research and team management with a patient outcome focus.